This invention pertains to bags and, more particularly, to a direct bagger unit for collecting, containing, and disposing asbestos and other particulate material.
In the past decade, government studies and numerous health reports have linked exposure to asbestos fibers with serious diseases including asbestoses, fibrosis, and lung cancer. Asbestoses has also been thought to cause or aggravate other maladies, such as emphysema, tuberculosis, bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, inflammations, and infections. Many people who worked in asbestos manufacturing plants or were employed installing asbestos insulation, have developed cancer and died.
Asbestos was commonly used as an insulator for houses, schools, factories, and public buildings. Asbestos fibers are readily circulated in the air and are dangerous if inhaled. The presence of asbestos in insulation in buildings may be harmful and injurious to the health, safety, and well being of children and adults alike, if not removed.
Asbestos contamination in buildings can be cured by removal. Asbestos removal, however, is not easy. Various industrial vacuum cleaners, loaders, and collectors have been tried but have not been very effective. Furthermore, removal of conventional containers, receptacles, hoppers, bins, or bags containing collected asbestos often expose the operator and surrounding personnel to concentrated amounts of the collected asbestos which can be dangerous, harmful, and even fatal.
Emissions of asbestos and other hazardous material are not only dangerous and troublesome, but are particularly aggravating and grievous in schools, houses, public buildings, and where relatively dust-free conditions and sterile environments are required, such as in medical supply houses and in food processing plants.
Over the years a variety of vacuum bags, bulk material bags, industrial dust collectors, and other equipment have been suggested for removing industrial dust and debris and for other purposes. Typifying these vacuum bags, bulk material bags, industrial dust collectors and equipment are those found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 485,915, 795,412, 2,276,805, 2,372,316, 2,467,503, 2,496,180, 2,604,956, 2,720,278, 3,320,727, 3,485,671, 3,541,631, 3,554,520, 3,577,705, 3,608,283, 3,650,420, 3,653,190, 3,717,901, 3,731,464, 3,751,881, 3,780,502, 3,842,461, 3,877,902, 3,951,623, 3,955,236, 3,961,655, 3,970,489, 3,999,653, 4,007,026, 4,010,784, 4,032,424, 4,036,614, 4,062,664, 4,099,937, 4,111,670, 4,174,206, 4,207,937, 4,224,043, 4,229,193, 4,272,254, 4,307,764, 4,443,235, 4,504,292, and 4,467,494. These prior art vacuum bags, bulk material bags, industrial dust collectors, and equipment have met with varying degrees of success.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved bagger unit which overcomes most, if not all, of the preceding problems.